J. Michael Andresen

Matthew Wins! Matthew D. has won the 2009 Prognostication Quiz! He correctly guessed the two December questions to leapfrog over Ted in order to claim the prognostication championship. Matthew ended with a final score of 8, beating out Ted by one point. The tie-break was not needed this year, but Matthew crushed the competition in that category as well. The total snowfall for the year in Minneapolis-Saint Paul was 47.0 inches. Matthew had 47.3 inches as his tie-break guess. That was the closest guess among all 43 entrants. I was second with a guess of 46.2 inches and my aunt Ellen was third with a guess of 46.0 inches. Poor Rachel H. ended the year with no points. That's the first time that has been done in the two years of the quiz. I'll find a booby prize to send to her to encourage her to enter again this year despite the horrible embarrassment. Leader board Here are the final rankings, sorted by total score and then by the tie break: Rank Name (Score) 1 Matthew (8) 2 Ted (7

Per our usual tradition, we spend Christmas Eve with Katie's family and Christmas Day with my family. These are my favorite pictures of the holidays: Auntie Laura and Max. Grandma June and Max. Grandpa Tom and Max. Max is super excited to open his first present! He loved ripping the paper off the presents. The actual gift was often quite anticlimactic. (Click for a larger view of Max's ecstatic smile.) Mom & Dad & Max pose for the camera. Dad's pose and facial expression remain frozen while Mom & Max branch out. Grandma Cherie and Dad and Max. Auntie Tina thinks that as long as she watches her margarita carefully, she will be able to keep Max from disrupting it while she pretends it's actually Max's drink. Auntie Tina is shocked to see how fast Max moves. (We had to clean the liquor from his hand to keep him from sucking on it.) Max is transfixed by the whirring noise and music and flying plastic balls from Missy and Tina's present. Uncle Jeremiah an

An annual holiday tradition dating back to December 2007, The Prognostication Quiz experienced exponential growth in entrants from its first year to its second . Help the trend continue! Send 15 answers plus one tie-breaker to jmandresen at gmail. The winner receives an overstuffed gift bag full of wondrous goodies! The deadline for entries is 11:10 p.m. on January 11, 2010 1. Freedom (January) Freedom House is an international organization that studies democracy and freedom in the world, publishing an annual report on how many of countries are free, partly free, or not free. The 2009 report calculated that 89 of the world’s 193 nations were “free” in 2008. Will freedom advance, stay stagnant, or retreat in this year’s report, covering 2009? The number of times each answer has occurred since the fall of the iron curtain is indicated in parentheses. How will the number of free countries change? a. minus two or worse (2), 87 or fewer total b. minus one (4), 88 total c. no change (3), 89

Max likes to play with his pacifier. It's a handy toy that he can carry around with him in his mouth. When he's playing with it, he manipulates it with his hands and sucks on it from all different angles. Sometimes I steal it from him. He knows it's his, though, and grabs it right back.